Indigenous communities in Tatau, Sarawak are calling on global palm oil buyers to investigate a plantation, where they say the company has cleared their customary forests without consent and is now threatening the river system they depend on. Nine Iban longhouse communities along the Sungai Sap river say large areas...
Deforestation in Pahang, Peninsular Malaysia © Albert Bansa / Friends of the Earth A new report by Friends of the Earth UK, RimbaWatch, and Earthsight confirms what we and our partners have been documenting for years: timber certification in Malaysia is failing to protect forests or uphold Indigenous rights. In...
(MIRI, March 24, 2026) – Residents of Sawa Ali are calling for urgent action to stop logging activities by Borneoland Timber Resources (BTR) in Block 24, a community forest reserve that serves as their primary source of livelihood. Sawa Ali Village Head, Ipa Ulai, said the logging operations not only...
UPOV, the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants, is a global system of plant breeders’ rights. It gives legal monopoly rights to companies or institutions that develop “new” plant varieties. In Sarawak and across Malaysia, many Indigenous communities strongly oppose joining or aligning national law with...
Penan Community of Sawa Ali Forces Temporary Stop to Borneoland Timber Resources’ Logging Activities Miri, Sarawak — Logging operations by Borneoland Timber Resources (“Borneoland”) in the highly contested Upper Baram region have been temporarily halted. This marks a significant victory for the Indigenous Penan community of Sawa Ali, who have steadfastly resisted...
What: Malaysia has confirmed that palm oil companies operating on disputed or illegally occupied native customary rights (NCR) land can now have their Malaysian Sustainable Palm Oil (MSPO) certification suspended or revoked. Under the MSPO 2.0 guidelines released this year, companies operating plantations must prove lawful land tenure, demonstrate that...
Dear Friends, As 2025 comes to a close, I’ve been thinking about what it means to do this work in a place where the challenges never seem to end. Plantations continue to expand, logging companies push deeper into forests, and communities face immense pressure on their lands and livelihoods. And...
(Miri, Sarawak — November 13, 2025) The repeated postponement of the court ruling on logging activities in the Data Bila area continues to generate dissatisfaction among local villagers and plaintiffs, who have been awaiting resolution of their customary land claims and demanding transparency on logging activities by company Borneoland Timber...
New evidence confirms that SD Guthrie continues to be implicated in deforestation in Sarawak, despite its sustainability commitments and international obligations. BINTULU, 20th October 2025 — Three ground investigations between December 2024 and September 2025, supported by satellite analysis, local community testimony and drone imagery, documented active forest clearance within...
BELAGA, SARAWAK – The Customary and Native Land Committee of Hulu Balui has protested against a large-scale bamboo plantation by Rich Venture Sdn. Bhd. near the Bakun Dam in Belaga, alleging encroachment into Native Customary Rights (NCR) land and severe environmental damage. The plantation, licensed under LPF/0056 and covering 44,545...
